Slow Cooker / Instant Pot – Old Fashioned Chili

Chili is an easy and comforting recipe that everyone seems to enjoy. This simple yet flavorful recipe can be made in the Instant Pot or slow cooker.

This originally posted as a slow cooker recipe but it as has been updated to include Instant Pot instructions as well.

Chili is kind of the gateway into slow cooking. For most people it’s the first slow cooker meal they make because it’s so easy to make. There are a thousand chili recipes out there because everyone has their own. This is mine. The slow cooker version of this chili is featured in my 1st cookbook, The Easy & Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook. I recently made it in my Instant Pot because I needed it done rather quickly which led to me updating this post.

before

Meat: I kept some of the ingredients in this recipe generic on purpose. For example I just say, ‘ground meat and sausage’ because whether it is beef, pork or turkey that’s up to you. My preferred combination is lean ground beef and mild Italian ground pork sausage but ground turkey and turkey sausage works well here too. I always like to brown my meat to discard of extra grease before adding it to the slow cooker but that’s an optional step. You don’t need to do this, especially if you use a lean ground meat.

after

Beans: I used salt-free, canned red kidney beans that were drained and rinsed. Black beans, pinto, garbanzo beans…you can substitute whichever beans you like in this case. Or simply omit the beans all together. If you do omit the them, this recipe is paleo and whole30 compliant! Tomatoes:  This recipes uses approximately 45 ounces of tomatoes. I used a combo of crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Absolutely switch that combo up: got diced tomatoes but not crushed or sauce? Then use all diced.

Slow Cooker/Instant Pot Old Fashioned Chili

• Author: Fit SlowCooker Queen
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 4 hours
• Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 6

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground meat
• 1 lb sausage (uncased)
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 15 ounces red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 tsp oil (for IP)

Instructions

Slow Cooker

Optional step is to brown the ground meat & sausage in a skillet over medium heat & drain the fat before adding the meat to the slow cooker.

1. Add all other ingredients to slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
2. Cook HIGH 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8.

Instant Pot

1. Set Instant Pot to the high saute setting. Heat oil.
2. Add sausage and beef and cook until browned, 3-5 minutes, crumbling the meat as it cooks. You might need to do this in batches.  Drain fat and remove from Instant Pot.
3. Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4-6 minutes.
4. Stir in tomato sauce, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in meat and all remaining ingredients, close and seal vent.
5. Select manual setting and set time for 20 minutes. Quick-release pressure when cook time is completed.

Notes

Nutritional facts calculated using lean ground beef and pork sausage

I like to make my chili the day before I plan on serving it. I don’t know about you but chili always tastes best to me served the next day. Am I the only one that thinks this?

PIN FOR LATER

You will need a large 6-quart slow cooker or Instant Pot for this recipe.

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